The best (and worst) on-screen female scientists
As a science student, it’s always been rare for me to find fictional scientists who feel realistic. Most of the time the scientists I see in films are wildly absurd – geniuses in not just their field but in everything, who know how to hack any server, recreate any molecule, identify any liquid and calculate the angle of impact of any bomb.

If people grow up only ever seeing scientists as being impossibly, unbelievably clever, then they are going to be discouraged from ever studying science themselves. This is especially true for women: who wants to become a scientist when your on-screen counterparts are constantly harassed, seen as bossy or lacking social skills, and are either comically unattractive or so sexy that it makes it unsafe to be in a laboratory environment? (I’m looking at you, mini-skirt lab coats and high heels.)

Frankly, this isn’t great. In a time when women still only make up 23% of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) workforce, there need to be better role models for the aspiring girls in the audience.

Lowrie and Shen are the youngest people on the planet after a virus caused global infertility. Closeted in a pocket of London and doted upon by a small, ageing community, the pair spend their days mudlarking and looking for treasure – until a secret is uncovered that threatens their entire existence.

In the quiet at the end of the world, Lowrie and Shen must decide what they are willing to sacrifice to save the whole human race…